Pope County employees who are planning to retire soon may not receive the compensation from unused-sick days as promised by the quorum court last May.

The ordinance that would have provided a maximum of $7,500 compensation for up to 90 accrued-sick days upon retirement was unanimously repealed in December, even after revisions were made, with the goal of reinstating the document at a later date.

County officials said a personnel committee meeting was slated for March after a January meeting was canceled. But, according to the chairman of the committee, no meeting will be held any time soon.

Without the immediate reinstatement of the ordinance, it is possible county employees who have retired since December or will retire soon would not be paid the same benefit as those who retired from May 2005 to December 2005.

At least four Pope County employees are expected to retire this year.

"If they (county employees) retire now, they won't get paid (for unused-sick days)," Pope County Judge Jim Ed Gibson said this week, adding the exception would be if a possible reinstated ordinance was made retroactive to the repeal date.

Personnel Committee Chairman Don Daily said he and the committee would continue to work on a plan the entire quorum court could agree on, but stated there has not been much support for reinstating the ordinance.

He noted the county's tight budget has also caused concern among the justices of the peace.

"There are still a lot of things up in the air," Daily said, referring to the Pope County Sheriff's request for new patrol cars and other expenses. "We're moving along, but it may be slow because of the money situation. ... We'll get around to it eventually."

When asked about making a new ordinance retroactive to the repeal date, Daily said he could not comment on the issue.

Justice Edwin Shinn, personnel committee member, said this week, "As far as I'm concerned, it (the ordinance) is dead. We don't have the money to support it."

Shinn said he was not in favor of the ordinance when it passed in May because he felt county personnel would need to be cut to support the extra costs of the "sick-day pay" ordinance.

"There's just not much fat in our (county) budget this year," Shinn said. "I think the people (county employees) would rather have their job and go without some of these extra benefits, if that's what it comes down to do. ... And I don't want to promise them something we can't follow through on."

Background

The ordinance passed nine months ago was set up to pay county retirees for up to 90 accrued sick days as an employee incentive to not abuse their sick day privileges. Before the ordinance, all sick days employees did not taken were lost upon retirement.

For that reason, Shinn has also suggested the quorum court look at other avenues of rewarding employees who do not abuse their sick days.

The ordinance was repealed last December when the quorum court was faced with the decision of whether to pay Sammy Reed, former ambulance director, who on Oct. 11, 2005, stated his intent to retire and plans to pursue payment of $7,500 for his unused sick days.

Some quorum court justices call Reed's situation a "loop-hole" because he was below the state retirement age but had been employed with the county for the required number of years as stated in the ordinance.

Because of the confusion, the personnel committee of the quorum court proposed a revised ordinance with details specific to retirement, but the revised ordinance failed.